Comparing Commodes: Know Your Toilets

When catching up with tiny house builders across the country, they all agree on one thing when comparing commodes; they talk about toilets a lot.

What Makes a Tiny House Toilet Important?

In the tiny house world, toilets are actually considered a luxury item for many interested in saving space and saving money. When building a traditional home, toilets are pretty much basic outside of fancy upgrades like a dual flushing. When you are talking about a build that allows your house to move around, you have to consider all of the options for plumbing since many aren’t connected to traditional water and sewer/septic. This can come with a hefty price tag.

Things To Consider

Taking Up Space

Depending on the brand, the toilet can be large because they hold the waste in a self-contained tank. Other options can be built to suit or can be moveable within your bathroom space. The sizing should be a priority consideration when building a home under 400 square feet.

Cost Effectiveness

Handmade composting toilets can be built for under $50, while some other types can cost up to $3500. Your choice of commode can severely impact your budget, so choose wisely.

Options to Empty/Drain

Make sure you have someone living in your tiny who is comfortable emptying the waste, whether it is being drained outside or taken to the compost pile. If you don’t have a willing person, choose a traditional flushing toilet and have plans for plumbing and sewer hookups.

Smell

Many people worry hard about how their toilet might smell, depending on what type they choose. Do your research. Composting toilets, if maintained correctly, shouldn’t have a foul odor. Incinerating toilets have their signature smell. You have to choose how important this is to your quality of life.

Your Choices

Traditional Flushing

This is what everyone in a traditional house is used to, but it does require a full time hook up to sewage or septic. So, for tiny house RVs, it may not be an option unless you live in an area that allows full -time hookups.

Composting

Working/Active: This is a more pricey choice, but it has minimal upkeep and thus a popular choice among most tiny home dwellers. You can get one that is self-contained, or remote. Self-contained composting toilets are larger because they contain the waste in the bottom of the container, while remote composting toilets hold the waste in a separate location; typically outside or underneath the tiny house RV.

Homemade: A DIY composting toilet! This is the least expensive option and the easiest to maintain, however, it is the option that freaks people out the most. For this, you can use anything from a bucket with a foam seat to building a box set up with a traditional toilet seat. Then you use pine shavings to cover the odor. A urine diverter will help with the smell when you empty the waste.

Dry Flush: A dry flush is an option that allows you to live off the grid and without the requirement of plumbing. This type of toilet uses cartridges filled with silver liners that, when flushed, wrap the waste SUPER tight to prevent odor from escaping. Once the liner is full, you empty them and replace the cartridge. These toilets are cheaper to install, but the liners are a maintenance cost to consider.

RV Traveler: An RV Toilet is as it sounds. For this option, you will need a holding tank and a place to drain it when it fills up. It does use minimal water per flush, but you will need to consider using a special toilet paper that breaks down fast in your holding tank.

What Do We Recommend?

After trying nearly all types of tiny house toilet options, our recommendation is a traditional flushing toilet or a quality brand composting toilet. If you are after a compostable, choose one of the most popularly installed toilets for tiny home builders. Brands that builders prefer to use are more affordable, and they are easy to maintain. If you are parked somewhere, and you have access to septic a traditional flushing toilet will do the job just like any standard home build. No matter what you choose, our specialized designers at Tumbleweed Tiny Houses will help you prioritize your price points and provide solutions tailored for your future plans.

Meet The Mama: Brynn Burger

Wife. Mother. Teacher. Friend. Writer. Lover of all things outdoors.

The Mama on The Rocks is a popular blog among parents, independent women, minimalists, tiny house dwellers, and super rad Roadschoolers.